Entries tagged with: SunKilMoon

This week, Led Zeppelin will continue their reissue campaign with a release of the 40th anniversary reissue of Physical Graffiti. Also in honor of that anniversary, MOJO is releasing a tribute compilation to the album with their April issue, featuring noted Zeppelin fanSun KIl Moon, Laura Marling, Hiss Golden Messenger, White Denim, Michael Kiwanuka, Rose Windows, Syd Arthur and more. Check out Sun Kil Moon and Laura Marling's covers and the full tracklist below (via Stereogum).

Sun Kil Moon released the most well-received album of his lengthy, fruitful career last year with Benji, and he's already ready to put out its followup this year. It's called Universal Themes, is out June 2 on his own Caldo Verde Records, and includes song titles like "With a Sort of Grace I Walked to the Bathroom to Cry" and "Cry Me a River Williamsburg Sleeve Tattoo Blues" and "This Is My First Day and I'm Indian and I Work at a Gas Station." Like the last album, Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley played on it.

Check out the full tracklist, with a stream of first single "The Possum," below...

We love year-end lists -- reading them, making them, arguing about them. BrooklynVegan editors Andrew Sacher and Bill Pearis have once again figured out their favorite albums of the year which you can check out, with commentary, below. Someday we may be able to come to an agreement on an official BV year-end list, but as you'll see there's not a lot of commonality between their two lists. (Specifically, there is zero commonality.) Which is ok! Diff'rent Strokes to rule the world. This year, they've also added their Top 20 favorite songs as well.

Grunge-folk singer Torres wrapped up a short tour with Strand of Oaks earlier this month that hit NYC on 12/4 at Bowery Ballroom. Anyone catch that? That's a picture of her and Strand of Oaks hanging out the NYC show, above. Her next NYC show is a free one, happening January 30 at Brooklyn Night Bazaar with Mainland and Ancient Ocean (aka John Bohannon, who's in Torres' live band). That's her only announced date at the moment.

First tracks, then honorable mentions, and now Pitchfork has put out their Top 50 Albums of 2014. There's nothing entirely out of left field, but there's definitely some surprises here. Taylor Swift, whose album was not reviewed at all (I guess it was a pretty obscure one), comes in at #31 with her album, 1989. Sun Kil Moon, which was the only 2014 album in their Top 10 Albums of the Decade So Far this past August (and seemed like a sure bet for #1) dropped down to #7 and was beaten out by his enemiesThe War on Drugs. TWOD actually came in at #3 themselves, and the two ahead of them are two you may not have seen coming.

We already knew that Pallbearer, the only Best New Music metal album of 2014, was an honorable mention, which unsurprisingly left zero metal albums on this list. No other BNM album got snubbed (save for a Hyperdub compilation and the Beyonce album, but that was probably because it was technically a 2013 release), and there's not really any glaring omissions in terms of what Pitchfork appeared to champion this year.

Ahead of the label's annual Brooklyn showcases, label co-founders Joe Steinhardt (also of Modern Hut) and Zach Gajewski (also of Nuclear Santa Claust), and several DG bands including Screaming Females, California X, Worriers, Crow Bait, Laura Stevenson, Brick Mower and Mal Blum have given us lists of their favorite albums of 2014. You can check out those lists below.

The 2015 showcases happen on February 6, 7 and 28 at Knitting Factory with Nude Beach, Shellshag, Crow Bait and more on night 1; Cali X, Downtown Boys, Pinkwash, Worriers and more on night 2; and Screaming Females, Priests, Tenement and Vacation at the final show. Tickets are still available.

Title Fight already have an awesomely billed tour with La Dispute and The Hotelier coming up that hits NYC on 3/27 at Webster Hall (tickets), and they've since added another appearance happening in the NYC-area that same weekend. They headline Long Island's Spring Mixtape Fest on Saturday, March 28 at Revolution which includes a stacked lineup of Bane, Pianos Become the Teeth, Defeater, Superheaven, Capital, Give, High Card and Soda Bomb. Tickets for that are on sale now. Show flyer and updated list of TF dates below.

That's not the only upcoming bill Pianos Become the Teeth and Superheaven share. They also team up with Diamond Youth (Topshelf) and Black Clouds (Geoff Rickly's label) later this month in Baltimore for what will be Pianos' first hometown show in over a year and a half. All Pianos dates are listed below.

Pianos Become the Teeth also gave us a list of their favorite records of 2014 (Title Fight recently told us theirs). It's a diverse list, ranging from metal vets At the Gates to EDM producer Porter Robinson to Sun Kil Moon. Check out their whole list, with commentary, and those lists of dates, below...

The best-of 2014 albums lists continue with FACT, who always put out an interesting list and this year is no exception. You've got a few of the year-end list regulars like FKA twigs, Angel Olsen, Ariel Pink, Grouper, YG, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib and Shabazz Palaces, but also a handful of obscurer rap, electronic and experimental choices. FACT's list is always a good one to find something you missed during the year that you end up falling in love with, so check it out. Also, it's the first list we've seen where Sun Kil Moon beats The War On Drugs! (who actually aren't on here at all).

Check out their top 50 below. You can read more about it here, and also check out some of their other year end coverage like top tracks, mixtapes, reissues, cassettes, mixes and more.

UK music site Drowned in Sound is kinda the British equivalent of Pitchfork, albeit with a very strong community aspect to it. They just published their 50 Favourite Albums of 2014 list and while it contains many of the LPs we've been seeing on a lot of these lists, it's a distinctly not-American point of view. Well, at least their #1. Check out the whole list below...

One of his most beloved bands though, is one who only put out one full length and two EPs in the early-mid 2000s before breaking up, The Progress. Their sole LP, 2006's Merit, was keeping the indie rock-oriented mathy style of '90s emo alive way before it was trendy to do that. It's one of the true gems to have come out during emo's (for lack of better words) "hair metal phase." And now it looks like The Progress may be reuniting.

In November, Absolute Punk pointed to to a tweet from Evan that reads "oh yeah, that thing i confirmed is a show. for a band that hasn't played a show in 7 years" and hashtagged "US Camera." That was pretty convincing on its own, but now Evan has posted a show announcement confirming a show for December 30 at Boot & Saddle in Philly with the caption "take the hint" and a show flyer that looks suspiciously similar to the Merit artwork. Hint taken. The only technically announced bands for that bill are Sleep In and Dryjacket. Tickets are on sale now. If it is in fact a Progress show, let's hope it's not the only one!

Meanwhile, Evan has given us a list of his favorite LPs and EPs of 2014. It's a cool, diverse list ranging from ambient pop to powerviolence, and you can check it out for yourself below.

Into It. Over It. also has an upcoming solo tour with Kevin Devine and Laura Stevenson (doesn't hit NYC), and he recently put out the video for "Spinning Thread" (dir. Max Moore) from last year's Intersections LP. Watch that, with his year-end list, some Progress song streams and the Philly show flyer, below...

SPIN returned with their Top Albums of 2014 list today. It's got a lot of the indie albums that usually show up on these lists (Caribou, Future Islands, FKA twigs, Parquet Courts, Cloud Nothings, How to Dress Well, Swans, St. Vincent, Real Estate, etc), a handful of rap albums (YG, Young Thug, Shabazz Palaces, Run the Jewels, Schoolboy Q, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, etc), metal (Pallbearer), punk (Against Me!, Joyce Manor), mainstream pop (Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert), and a couple headscratchers (Betty Who at #11?). You-know-who scores the #1 slot once again here. Check it out for yourself below.

Philly folk rockers Strand of Oaks are on tour now and about to headline their largest NYC show yet on Thursday (12/4) at Bowery Ballroom. Since we last spoke, the similarly-minded Torres was added to a few dates including last night's Toronto show (12/1), the upcoming Philly show, and the NYC show. You can still get tickets to both NYC and Philly. Updated dates are listed below.

In other news, Strand of Oaks main man Timothy Showalter just told Philly.com that his favorite albums of 2014 are Sun Kil Moon's Benji, Marissa Nadler's July, Sharon Van Etten's Are We There and Ryan Adams' self-titled, the latter of which includes the song "My Wrecking Ball" that Strand of Oaks recently covered. You can stream that below. Strand of Oaks' own 2014 LP, Heal, was a favorite of his Philly neighbors, Restorations.

Hear Ya also just put out a live session video of Strand of Oaks playing "Shut In" from their new record. You can watch that, with the Ryan Adams cover and list of dates, below...

Philly rockers Restorations put out LP3 earlier this year on SideOneDummy. It's an excellent record; one you'll probably see on a handful of year-end lists this year thanks to its superior take on heartland/blue collar rock that rivals a lot of the stuff it was likely influenced by (Lucero, The Hold Steady, Hot Water Music, etc). The band's singer Jon Loudon was also nice enough to give us his own 2014 year-end list, which includes 10 pretty diverse picks.

Check it out for yourself, with commentary on each one from Jon and honorable mentions, below...

It's the last week of November and we've hit Best-of List Season. Especially in the UK where we've already seen album lists from Rough Trade, MOJO, Q, and Uncut. Now here's long-running UK weekly NME with their LPs and tracks of the year. Topping the lists are St. Vincent's self-titled album, and Future Islands' omnipresent "Seasons." (Sorry, The War on Drugs, you're slightly lower on the list here.) And just to remind you they are British music magazine, Kasabian figure into both lists. Check out NME's full Top 50 LPs/Tracks of 2014 lists below...

We're just over a month away from 2015 and those UKyear-endlists keep pouring in. Now British music mag Uncut has posted their 75 Best Albums of 2014. Looks like their winner is becoming a popular choice for #1, and the rest of their top 10 is split between real-deal veterans (Leonard Cohen [falling just a tad from his 2012 #1 spot], Robert Plant) and rising newcomers (FKA twigs). Elsewhere the list has a lot of the indie-related albums that keep popping up, a good deal of folk/country, more veteran appearances, and a certain opinionated UK duo who have appeared on every UK list we've seen so far and make their US debut this week.

As discussed, Quintron and his wife/collaborator Miss Pussycat are on tour now, hitting NYC this weekend at Baby's All Right on Saturday (11/29). Since we last spoke, openers for that show have been revealed including the TVTOR-related Ice Balloons and Moondudes. Tickets for Baby's are still available.

Quintron has also has his Weather Warlock show happening. Friday (11/28) afternoon at Secret Project Robot at 3 PM. For this show, Weather Warlock -- his "heavy drone band which uses sun, wind, rain and temperature to control a monster analog synth designed by Quintronics" -- will have an all-star cast including guitarist Nels Cline, drummer Sean Lennon, drummer Steve Shelley, baritone saxist Paula Henderson, and alto saxist Luke Stewart. Updated dates and a video of Weather Warlock at Gonerfest, below.

Meanwhile, Nels Cline has other upcoming shows including one in NYC TONIGHT (11/25) at SubCulture. Tonight's show is with avant-jazz guitarist Julian Nage, who Nels released the collaborative album Room with this week. Tickets for tonight's show are on sale. Stream a couple of Nels and Julian's collaborations below.

Nels also plays Trans-Pecos on December 18 with his Ring Nebula Project. Also on that bill is Ava Mendoza's Unnatural Ways, Cactus Truck and Cloud Becomes Your Hand. Tickets for that one are available. After that, Nels and Julian Nage head out on a proper tour together. All dates are listed below.

Meanwhile, Steve Shelley drums on the new Sun Kil Moon single "The Possum" which will be released December 1 via Caldo Verde and can be streamed below. Steve was also on SKM's 2014 album Benji. He'll also soon be back on the road backing his former Sonic Youth bandmate Thurston Mooreon his tour that hits NYC on December 11 at the Marlin Room at Webster Hall (free with RSVP).

All dates and streams for Quintron and Nels Cline, and the Sun Kil Moon stream, below...

We just posted Q Magazine's Best of 2014 albums list and now here's the same from sister publication MOJO. Not only do they share a publisher, but also more than half of same albums appear on both lists. The War on Drugs was #2 here, making war for Beck's Morning Phase in the top spot. Check out the whole list below.

While MOJO is seen as a safe haven for "heritage" acts, there are some records in their Top 10 that don't prominently feature acoustic guitars: coming in at #3 is Sleaford Mods' Divide and Exit. You can catch the Mods' North American live debut this Saturday (11/29) at The Wick with The Gotobeds, The Rogers Sisters and "very special guests" who will be announced closer to the show. Tickets are still available.

Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest wrapped up this past weekend with a variety of killer music across punk, metal, hip hop, indie, electronic and plenty of the in-between, plus comedy, wrestling, BMX competitions and more. The lineup spanned legends like Judas Priest, Gorilla Biscuits and Nas through great newer artists like Angel Olsen, Deafheaven and Courtney Barnett. We've already written plenty about it -- check out our reviews of day 1, day 2 and day 3 -- as well as posted pictures of Judas Priest, Gorilla Biscuits and Mineral.

Now we've got pics of the whole three days on BV Austin. Check out day 1 HERE, day 2 HERE and day 3 HERE.

As they usually are, Rough Trade Shops are one of the first this year to post their favorite albums of 2014 list. It's 100 albums long and mostly filled with the bigger indie and indie-related releases of the year, but there's a few surprises in there too. Mark Kozelek will not be happy to see that The War On Drugs placed #2, 8 higher than the Sun Kil Moon record. Mark should be proud that he made the list not once, but TWICE though. His Christmas album landed at #84. Run the Jewels, who are not on it all, have started a "Suck My Dick Rough Trade" chant. Check out their full list below and see more on each album here.

At Fun Fun Fun Fest on Friday (11/7), Run The Jewels were playing the Blue Stage simultaneous to Sun Kil Moon on the Black Stage, and during RTJ's set El-P took a minute to tell a story about how he loves Sun Kil Moon's song "The War On Drugs: Suck My Cock" ("I'm a rapper, we say shit like that") and that he introduced himself to Mark Kozelek before the show saying, "Hey, I'm a fan. We're the guys that are gonna be interrupting your set today with how loud our fucking crowd is." Then El continues, "And he said, 'what's your name' and I said 'Run the Jewels,' and I swear to god he said 'suck my dick Run the Jewels.' And I said "suck my dick Sun Kil Moon!'"

He then proceeded to ("with all due respect") get the crowd to chant "SUCK MY DICK SUN KIL MOON." Check out a video of that going down, below.

We didn't catch Sun Kil Moon's set, but according to The Austin Chronicle he said, "What's the name of that fucking band playing? Just kidding, whatever you're called, I love you guys."

Here's the latest volley in the never-ending feud between Mark Kozelek and The War on Drugs. If you've been following along, you know that TWOD frontman Adam Granduciel (real last name: Granofsky) addressed Kozelek's song "The War on Drugs: Suck My Cock" in a Swedish interview, saying, among other things, "He's such a fucking child. And then the song is just idiotic, he's just a fucking idiot. I don't have time for idiots."

Of course, Kozelek responded. How? By reading the whole interview transcript aloud over light acoustic guitar backing and posting it on his site. Mark can't seem to get through a sentence without cracking up. He calls it "Adam Granofsky Blues." Listen to it here.

You've probably heard something by now about the very one-sided Sun Kil Moon vs War on Drugs feud which resulted in SKM's new song "The War On Drugs: Suck My Cock" which TWOD had not responded to... until now. Stereogum points to a new interview on Swedish music blog Songs For Whoever with TWOD frontman Adam Granduciel where Adam said the following:

Speaking of rivalry. Mark Kozelek. What happened there...?

− Never heard of him.

No? Okay. Then I think that's my last...

− I mean, to be fair to that idiot, what he said in that song... I didn't really have a problem with any of it until I heard the song. First of all, he never met us, and yet said all these things. He's such a douche. I asked somebody if I could get his e-mail, because I wasn't trying to start this stupid Twitter thing, I was just bummed. I went to a mutual friend who explained that he wouldn't give out his e-mail address. So I just got an e-mail through this friend that said "Mark wants to come to the Fillmore, he will write a song called 'War On Drugs Suck My Cock,' you back him up on it and he gets to play 'Beer Commercial Guitar,' then you back him up on one of his songs, 'Dogs,' from his new album. And then he plays 'Beer Commercial Guitar' on one of your songs."

− We were on tour and I thought "this is actually a pretty cool idea, I don't have anything against this guy, this is cool." So I was really excited and was gonna write him back in a couple of days, 'cause I was busy at the time. Then two days later I get an e-mail back from him, saying "the offer has expired, maybe when I get home from tour I'll go to Starbucks and buy your record." I was like "you're such a fucking prick, dude." He was such an asshole, I didn't even say anything. Then he goes to the internet and he "challenges" us to this thing, but I was like "you fucking prick, you already said 'No'!" He's such a fucking child. And then the song is just idiotic, he's just a fucking idiot. I don't have time for idiots. I'm just pissed that he tried to make it come out like he was challenging us. I had already essentially agreed to it, and then the Starbucks comment... what the fuck, dude. Get over your fucking self.

There you have it. You can listen to "The War On Drugs: Suck My Cock" below...